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Each year I give a talk to the students at the christian school where I work on the Buddhist perspective on death and dying.
One year, as part of my talk, I presented a letter that Ajahn Chah wrote to an elderly English disciple who was dying.
Living with the Cobra: http://www.ajahnchah.org/book/Living_With_Cobra1.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And there are, of course, many discourses in the suttas and commentarial literature on the subject of death, the recollections of death, and its inevitable approach.
kind regards,

Ben

“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

I have good will for footless beings,
good will for two-footed beings,
good will for four-footed beings,
good will for many-footed beings.

May footless beings do me no harm.
May two-footed beings do me no harm.
May four-footed beings do me no harm.
May many-footed beings do me no harm.

May all creatures,
all breathing things,
all beings
— each & every one —
meet with good fortune.
May none of them come to any evil.

Limitless is the Buddha,
limitless the Dhamma,
limitless the Sangha.
There is a limit to creeping things: snakes, scorpions,
centipedes, spiders, lizards, & rats.
I have made this safeguard,
I have made this protection.
May the beings depart.
I pay homage to the Blessed One, homage to the seven rightly self-awakened ones.

All beings pass away. Dying comes equally with being born; this is something that anyone, religious, non-religious, or Buddhist alike, should contemplate deeply before dying. Dying is an intense experience, and as we pass into a successive existence, the experiences are normally overwhelming. The most important thing is that they are not apathetic toward their death. The must have compassion for themselves, and they should rely on loving kindness for everyone around them. They shouldn't be plagued with questions, or undergo some religious upheaval where they "find god" or something like that. They should be as calm as possible. No amount of radical thinking is going to help them, it's not going to change the life they've lived or improve their state of mind as they experience dying. Another critical factor, truly, is that they should focus on the merit of their past good actions, their own essential virtue in other words. This is invaluable in death. Also, positiveness and happiness within the dying and the people around them is very important.

From this we can see how important it is to develop a happy and virtuous state of mind at the time of death. We can also see how we can be of great benefit to others when they are dying, by encouraging them to develop a positive mind and creating for them conditions that will help them to generate good thoughts. In this way we can bring measureless benefit to our friends and relatives, even if they have no interest in Dharma.

A seed sleeps in soil.
It's cold and alone, hopeless.
Until it blooms above.

"And who is the person who, subject to death, is not afraid or in terror of death?

"There is the case of the person who has abandoned passion, desire, fondness, thirst, fever, and craving for sensuality. Then he comes down with a serious disease. As he comes down with a serious disease, the thought does not occur to him, 'O, those beloved sensual pleasures will be taken from me, and I will be taken from them!' He does not grieve, is not tormented; does not weep, beat his breast, or grow delirious. This is a person who, subject to death, is not afraid or in terror of death.

"Furthermore, there is the case of the person who has abandoned passion, desire, fondness, thirst, fever, and craving for the body. Then he comes down with a serious disease. As he comes down with a serious disease, the thought does not occur to him, 'O, my beloved body will be taken from me, and I will be taken from my body!' He does not grieve, is not tormented; does not weep, beat his breast, or grow delirious. This, too, is a person who, subject to death, is not afraid or in terror of death.

"Furthermore, there is the case of the person who has done what is good, has done what is skillful, has given protection to those in fear, and has not done what is evil, savage, or cruel. Then he comes down with a serious disease. As he comes down with a serious disease, the thought occurs to him, 'I have done what is good, have done what is skillful, have given protection to those in fear, and I have not done what is evil, savage, or cruel. To the extent that there is a destination for those who have done what is good, what is skillful, have given protection to those in fear, and have not done what is evil, savage, or cruel, that's where I'm headed after death.' He does not grieve, is not tormented; does not weep, beat his breast, or grow delirious. This, too, is a person who, subject to death, is not afraid or in terror of death.

"Furthermore, there is the case of the person who has no doubt or perplexity, who has arrived at certainty with regard to the True Dhamma. Then he comes down with a serious disease. As he comes down with a serious disease, the thought occurs to him, 'I have no doubt or perplexity. I have arrived at certainty with regard to the True Dhamma.' He does not grieve, is not tormented; does not weep, beat his breast, or grow delirious. This, too, is a person who, subject to death, is not afraid or in terror of death.

"These, brahman, are four people who, subject to death, are not afraid or in terror of death."

May we all arrive at the true Dhamma and become fearless. Metta to all,

It is very important to keep them happy and have a calm mind and to get them to think of virtuous things, their teachers, dharma work etc etc.
I was reading the Lamrim and there is this thing called 'Throwing Karma' is one's last thoughts, if it is virtuous then one will go to a good rebirth and it is is not then the converse will happen.

I think it is good to think about & prepare for this eventuality. I have decided that if I were in a situation where death was impending in a very short space of time, that I would take refuge in mindfulness of the body. If able to do so with a calm mind, to observe the rising and falling of the breath to it's actual cessation for this current body - ie, the final exhalation - would be a wonderful meditation, if it could be done in the right frame of mind. But if my mind was afraid, I would focus more on my faith & conviction in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha in the final moments, to steady & calm the mind.

Drinking the nourishment,
the flavor,
of seclusion & calm,
one is freed from evil, devoid
of distress,
refreshed with the nourishment
of rapture in the Dhamma.
- Dhp 205

Yes this trigger a teaching that Rinpoche gave us about why we should start early in our life to do dharma or engage in dharma activities. As if we spent 50 years for most people, just doing samsaric things and worldly stuff, our last thought will most likely be related to delusions and not virtuous thoughts. Plus the fact that if we wait till we are retired either we might get there or at that age we dont have the energy to engage in dharma properly and after 50 years of habituations of not engaging in dharma why would our mind suddenly shift? That mind shift towards dharma will be hard to after so many years of habituations.